tattoogunman
Well-known member
I had looked into how much damage automatic state/stop tech caused compared to a traditional engine a while back. Essentially, everything I found pointed to the fact that the jury was still out since it's still relatively new and there hasn't been enough data collected. However, it did show that the average number of automotive starts was increased exponentially (like from a few thousand over the life of the car to well into the hundreds of thousands of starts with the start/stop tech) with the systems. Again, those were based off of averages and I honestly cannot remember where I found that at. Basically what I found was that there really has not appeared to be a problem with the tech thus far.
As for hybrid reliability, Toyota seems to have done it right as I have not read any significant problems. Honda, on the other hand, has not. I bought my wife a used '09 Honda Civic Hybrid after doing a little bit of research (not enough as it turned out) and two days after we bought it, the battery pack died. Luckily for us it was a significant problem that Honda was aware of and Honda had extended the warranties on them to 100,000 miles. So we had a happy ending in that the dealer replaced it no questions asked. If it had not been for that warranty coverage, we would have been hosed as a new pack cost something like $1000 or more. However, given this issue with Honda, it does show there is a potential issue down the road. It's also one of the reasons why I have reservations about EVs in general because if I were to pick up a used Leaf (since I cannot afford new), there is no way I would ever be able to cover the cost of a replacement battery pack.
As for hybrid reliability, Toyota seems to have done it right as I have not read any significant problems. Honda, on the other hand, has not. I bought my wife a used '09 Honda Civic Hybrid after doing a little bit of research (not enough as it turned out) and two days after we bought it, the battery pack died. Luckily for us it was a significant problem that Honda was aware of and Honda had extended the warranties on them to 100,000 miles. So we had a happy ending in that the dealer replaced it no questions asked. If it had not been for that warranty coverage, we would have been hosed as a new pack cost something like $1000 or more. However, given this issue with Honda, it does show there is a potential issue down the road. It's also one of the reasons why I have reservations about EVs in general because if I were to pick up a used Leaf (since I cannot afford new), there is no way I would ever be able to cover the cost of a replacement battery pack.